Saving My Last Breath For You
by KhaestaAradia
Summary: Hell on earth has been release with Silas's awakening. After a massacre deemed a sacrifice for the cure, the few survivors must face new senses, new circumstances, and new allies. Old love and New love collide in a world where every breath may be your last and destiny is always a step ahead. SE/DB/KC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is just my little opinion of how things could be after the cure is found. I am in no way connected to the show, the books series, or anything associated with the vampire Diaries franchise. Please enjoy and let me know what you think. The more feedback I get, the more I will be encouraged to write.

Chapter One: A New Horizon.

Golden slivers of sunshine peeped through the tree leaves landing on Elena's face where she laid on the hardened frozen dirt. Momentarily stunned by the way the chill had seemed like an arctic breeze rather than a light wind, she came to the sudden realization she was no longer a vampire. Tears of joy cascaded down her cheeks as she sat up wanting to scream her excitement from the rooftops despite the pain she was feeling. It was like she lived through the hundred year war as it's last survivor. Last survivor... Panic shot through her as the fear of the worse registered at the back of her mind. Damon. Bonnie. Jeremy. Where was everyone?

As the fear set shivers up her spine from worry, Elena was shook out of her thoughts by the sound of grunting coming from behind the trees beside her. She wasn't alone after all! They were alive! She shot up into a standing position, instantly regretting it when she felt her head start to spin. She rubbed her forehead trying to regain a sense of equilibrium and stumbled towards the noise she had just her moments ago.

Without watching where she was actually walking, Elena continued her quest forward until she tripped over a fallen tree landing directly on the suspect of noise making. Brushing away the hair that happen to have fallen in her face, Elena's eyes fell on on Stefan. The second brown and green connected, she felt her heart flutter to life. Despite her own protests of no longer being in love with him, the man beneath her had very much captured and held a heavy stake on her heart. A part of her was always going to be in love with the vampire, err, human?

She stumbled up to her feet and held a hand out to help him up. It was clear there was an awkward tension between the two of them, but right now all they had was each other. There was no point in dwelling on the hurtful things she knew she had done to him because an apology wouldn't fix either of their hearts. There wasn't a point in chastising his choices since they parted ways either, because she was no longer a part of his world. She was no longer a part of his world. The thought completely killed her inside and she stiffened as she always did at the memory of the love they once shared.

Stefan took her hand in his own, pulling himself up with her assistance. After over a hundred and fifty years of living in agony, he was free from his torture. He was human again, a sensation to him that felt more foreign than relieving. He furrowed his brows together as his eyes scanned their surroundings, analyzing any immediate threats to their safety. His first instinct was always going to be to protect Elena no matter how many times she ripped his heart out of his chest and stomped all over it.

After deciding that the coast was clear for now, Stefan straightened out his clothing and turned to face Elena. If they were going to make it off this island alive they were going to have to work together. Of course working together had meant addressing the awkwardness between them. For months he told himself that he was searching for the cure to win her heart back, but in searching for the cure he had won his own heart back. He was not the same Stefan she had fallen in love with and he was never going to be that man again. He cleared his throat and sighed. "Elena..."

"Don't" She was quick to cut off his words. It wasn't that she didn't want to hear what he had to say, it was more like she had already known what was going through his mind. No matter what forces tried to separate them, Stefan and Elena had the kind of unbreakable connection that knew no limits. She bit her lip and just nodded. "I understand Stefan."

Stefan walked over to her so they were standing face to face with little space between them. He cupped her face in his hands. All he wanted to do was kiss her, tell her he still loved her, beg her to sail off into the sunset, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to do that. He kissed her forehead and smiled reassuringly at her. "I will get you home safely. This is my final gift to you, the happiness of the life you had always wanted before I had intruded on your world."

Being human had made Elena far more docile than the feisty vampire version of herself, but this was the one thing she was determined to fight for. HE was the one thing she was determined to fight for. She shook her head and rested her hands on top of his. "No! Don't you do that! Don't you close the curtains before the final act. I know what I want. I know who I am. I am who I am because you loved me."

There wasn't a power in the world that could force Stefan to sit down and listen to this. He started to run, not to get away from her, but to get away from himself. It was always a war inside his own heart of what he really wanted and what he really needed. The time that he had been spending with Rebekah reminded him that there was a Stefan out there that could be happy without the love of Elena, a Stefan that didn't have to second guess his every feeling and thought. He couldn't just go back to her, to loving her. As fast as he tried to run, he was reminded that he was no loner a powerful supernatural being and that at human speed she was just as fast as he was himself.

"Is this all that we are now Stefan?!" Elena snapped. With everything that she had been through over the course of her high school years, she had more than crossed her breaking point. She was sick of losing people that meant the most to her. She was sick of trying so hard to find something to believe in. She knew that she had made mistakes and it was time that she had started to make up for it all. She slithered herself to be right in front of him so that he was forced to stop running.

"What's the matter Elena? Are you struggling with the idea that not everyone in the world caters to your every waking need?" He growled at her with a smooth jazzy voice. He couldn't be the nice guy when she was making it hard for him to just feel. She had completely destroyed the man that he once was and as much as he did still love her, he had nothing left to give her. She had chosen Damon and he didn't know what he was expecting after the cure had been found, but it wasn't that they would ride off into the sunset together. His dreams of their love being unbreakable had been shattered one too many times for him to believe in it anymore.

She supposed she deserved that and then some, but it still stung nonetheless. Elena bit her lip terrified to meet his gaze, too scared of what it might be that looked back at her. She mustered up what little courage she had, resting a hand on the side of each of his hands. As she gripped onto his face she let her thumbs graze against his hardened skin. At first she knew she had his attention but she wasn't sure the words to speak. It had been long overdue and there were so many things that she had yet to say to him.

"The truth is that I could blame Damon or the sire bond or find a way to blame you, but anything I could come up with would be an invalid excuse for the truth. I hurt you Stefan. I hurt you and you have every right in the world to be mad for that, to hate me. Things between you and I will never be the same because on our own you and I will never be the same. I know that I should give you space and that I should let you be on your way, but I can't do that. I can't do that because I am far too selfish and I need you Stefan. I have always needed you and I think in your heart you know that you need me to. Whether or not we are human or vampire, you and I bring out the best in each other. I am tired of losing people that I care about. If I lost you... I don't think that I could ever recover from that... For so long you have held the biggest piece of my heart, like it's not whole without you, like I'm not whole without you. You were right about me. You were right about the sire bond. You were right about Damon. You were right about everything but the fact that you seemed to think I stopped loving you. I could never stop loving you, not even if I wanted to. I am not asking for your forgiveness, or even your love anymore, but please Stefan, I am begging you for your friendship, for a mutual understanding. You said that you didn't become human for me... but what if... What if I became human for you?"

The entire time that he watched her lips moving back and forth, all Stefan could think about was how much he had missed her. He thought about how much he missed looking into her eyes. He thought about how much he had missed holding her close. He thought about how much he missed her voice. Then there was one line that she said that struck a cord with him, one line he knew was true above all else, that they brought out the best in each other.

Without a single word, Stefan rested a hand on either side of her waist and decided once and for all it was time to claim what was his, Elena. He pushed her up against the cool bark of the oak tree behind her, pinning her to the tree. His lips captured hers in a tantalizing tango and he lost himself in the passion of the moment knowing that she went with him into their sensual daydream as she herself returned the kiss with a fury. Finger tips clawed at skin. Lips were being bitten. Tongues massaged against each other. Their bodies collided in their cravings for each other.

Elena was sure that she would have let Stefan take her right then and there up against the tree... Or rather she thought she would until she heard the agitated clearing of a throat. Damon. She looked around Stefan to see the iciest blue stare she could imagine. Damon didn't have to say what he was thinking. His stare was laced with enough hatred and fury that it spoke volumes. The three of them stood there in silence, all too ashamed or angry or numb to be the first to break the silence. No matter what happened next, the only thing that was clear, was that the next events would change the course of their lives forever.


	2. Chapter 2: Two Worlds Collide

AN: Hello there my awesome sauce readers! I just wanted you to know how my writing style works. I am going to try and update at least once a week and most chapters will be a lot longer than the first one was. The more reviews I get the more I get inspired to write, both good and bad. So if you read to the bottom, let me know what you think. I want to thank everyone for reviewing, favoriting or following Saving my Last Breath for You. It's my first The Vampire Diaries fanfic so it means a lot to get such positive feedback. Anyways without further ado...

Chapter 2: Two Worlds Collide

Love. It was one word with four simple letters, yeah it held an indescribable amount of meaning. As Elena stood there between the two seething brothers, it was a word that she had to confront. Did she love both of them? Did she love either of them? She shifted her gaze back and forth between glowing green eyes and electric blue orbs. Each man handsome in his own right, each man utterly in love with her, and each man basically all the she had left. She took a deep breath as she knew that she was going to have to deal with the sire bond and what she was feeling deep in her heart.

They had always said in order for the sire bond to be effective, the vampire has to have held human feelings for their sire. It wasn't an option that Elena had ever contemplated before she was a vampire. She cared about Damon, but then again she had cared about all of her friends in Mystic Falls. She looked over at Stefan and her heart instantly broke, seeing the trouble and worrisome expression on his face. He wasn't just Stefan, he was her beloved Stefan. It had always been him that had held her heart in the palm of his hands. It had always been him that had been her strength, when her world crumbled around her. She fixed her gaze on him, wanting to to forget about Damon completely.

"I love you, Stefan. Please just can we all talk about this level headed. We have all lost so much. You two are brothers not enemies." She simply whispered as the tears started to well up in her eyes, cascading down her cheeks like a roaring waterfall. As she finished her words she turned to look at Damon and nodded. "Let me go. I know you're better than this. It's been over a hundred years Damon aren't you tired of trying to get revenge on Stefan for Katherine? She hurt him too. You two should be sticking together not falling apart."

Damon growled through gritted teeth at his words. The damage that had done between his brother and himself had been irreversible. Damon had always tried to find a way to be there for his baby brother, to support him, but it always seemed to backfire in the end. He was sick and tired of being the nice guy, of getting walked all over. This wasn't like him at all and he was done pretending to be some glorified knight in shining armor just for a little bit of sexual justice. He wanted to take from Stefan what Stefan had taken from him, Love. If Elena's love for Stefan was enough to break the firm grip his sire bond had on her, than he was going to have to take matters into his own hands. It had been far too long since her had allowed his homicidal blood-lust to be free. They were both going to die, on his terms, when he said so.

As he narrowed his eyes, Damon looked at them darkly. He was going to a place that even the Ripper side of Stefan would have been terrified of, a place that he had spent fuming in for about a century. A simple look in his cold dead blue eyes would have sent bone chilling shivers down anyone's spine. It was all a little resonant of that cliché quote 'If looks could kill.' He bowed his head as he let a loathsome cackle escape his lips before he started to say, "You think peace is the answer? You think that just turning the other cheek is going to fix all the betrayal. Let's get one thing straight Elena. Whatever fantasy world you are living in, is nothing more than a delusion. I am not a nice guy. I don't care about you. I don't care about Stefan. I don't care about anyone. The only fucking thing that I care about at all in this god forsaken world, is my damn self. I get what I want, when I want and there is no ifs, ands, or buts about that. And what I want? Is to bleed you dry. I want to see horror in your eyes as I drain what is let of your pathetic life essence while that fucktard you call the love of your life is completely helpless and forced to watch. Then when I am done with you, I am going to kill him. And since I have been waiting an eternity. I think I will be generous and let it be quick and easy. Stake him right in the heart."

Damon's ominous tirade hung in the air around all three of them. It was the passing moments where Damon refused to back down, Elena tried to still find the best in him to believe in, and Stefan tried to analyze what Damon was really saying between the lines. It had felt like a game of chess that had been played for hours only to end in a stalemate. The moment was filled with a relief that the truth was out, but disappointment that the climax was left hanging.

"Oh and in case you were wondering now that you're not shoving your tongue down my baby brother's throat... you're baby brother died. Sorry." Damon informed Elena unapologetically. He started to back away from the two star crossed lovers and shook his head, making a tsking sound with his tongue against his teeth. "Sleep with one eye open. I never forgive and I never forget. I will be there around the corner waiting to complete the hunt."

With a flash of a devilish grin, Damon was gone. In his absence Stefan and Elena stood there left behind. Elena suddenly looked like a little girl who had just lost her puppy for the first time, while Stefan had become unreadably emotionless. It was clear that the tension between the two reunited exes was still there. There was too much that was still left unsaid, there was still too many tings that couldn't be taken back and forgotten. He had slept with Rebekah, she had slept with Damon. They had both hurt each other for their own gain.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Elena turned so that her entire body was facing Stefan. They had to start somewhere and it was time that she had become proactive with her own life and her own feelings. Brown eyes searched glowing greens. She needed a clue, an emotion. She needed to know that if she started to fight, that he would fight back, but she got nothing. Despite the lack of response from Stefan, Elena knew that she had to break the silence. She finally nodded. "I know that you probably don't want to talk about what just happened, but I think that is what we really need right now Stefan. I think we need to talk about everything. This cold, emotionless being, this isn't you. I know. I know what you said about... Me not knowing what you look like when you're not in love with me and I didn't have the words to reply to you then, but I do now. Maybe I don't know every shade there is of you Stefan, but I know that I love you. I know that you love me and I know that you like that version of yourself best. You will never admit that because nothing _is more painful than unrequited love, but I am here Stefan. I am telling you that I am not giving up on us. You and I. You and I belong together. We have had a few roadblocks around the way and I let them cloud my heart, but it's clear now, and I know. I know without a doubt that there will never be another for me. When we kissed... That was all that mattered, you. I am asking you now. Do you think that we can fight this, that we can be together? Because I don't know if I can live without you."_

_Everything that Stefan had ever done had been in Elena's honor. Now that he was finally doing things for himself, there she was consuming him all over again. When he first laid eyes on her, he felt drawn to her. It was that love at first sight that people only hear about in fairytales and romance novels, and he had fought against it even back then. He didn't want to love her, he didn't want to give into the passion that his heart felt for her, because he had always ended up hurt that way. At the end of the day when he truly gave his heart away, he had always ended up getting left behind._

He wasn't sure how he should actually answer her. When he first agreed to search for the cure it was to make her human. Even when he had heard that there was only one dosage, he would give up his own happiness for hers. She had turned her back on him the first opportunity she had to, how could he trust her again after that? He reached out tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She was breathtakingly beautiful even bloodied, sleep deprived, and covered in dirt.

"I love you." He finally admitted with a slight nod, taking a step towards her. If this was going to be their defining moment, then it was time that she understood how he felt about everything. If they were ever going to work in the future, it was going to have to be a give and take kind of thing. They were both going to have to be willing to make the sacrifices needed for the sake of the relationship. There was plenty that they both had to overlook in the first place. But the one that spoke to him the most was. "You say that you don't think that you can live without me, but I know that I can't live without you. Everything I have done has been for us. For you, for me. I used to tell myself that I was always doing the right thing because I thought I was protecting you. But I was blinded by my love for you. There was a time when I was at my worse, in my darkest hour, and you stood there and looked at the monster inside of me and saw the best. You saw my love for you and you pulled it out, you saved me from myself. I am the best version of myself when I am wit you because after a century of living in an emotionless blackhole of heartbreak, I have something to believe in again. I have you. I know things haven't been the way that you hoped them to be. You wanted kids, a family, to grow old. I know that you have had to lose so much just by having me in your life. Elena whether you are in love with me or not, I am not going anywhere. People would look at me like I am insane for standing by you through it all, but I know that our hearts are intertwined because I feel it. If you believe in us again, then I am not going to object. No one is perfect. I've made mistakes. You've made mistakes. There is not point trying to forget the things that we can not change, because... IF we can over come all of those things and still find our way back to each other, than there isn't anything in this universe that cane come between you and I."

The longer that it took him to reply the more anxious and worried Elena had become. Had the time finally come where she had lost everything that had ever meant something to her? Before she could even process the end of hope, his words started to flood to her brain like a beautiful symphony. She felt jubilation spread from her toes all the way up to her head. She was irrevocably in love with the man standing before her and she was more positive than even in the bond that the two of them had shared. As his voice halted and the air turned to silence, Elena closed the distance between them, snaking her arms around his waist.

Her heart was overcome with a swell of emotions as she looked up at him. Everything felt right in this moment. She leaned up and kissed him tenderly, letting all the love she felt for him flow from her own lips to his own. After a few seconds, Elena pulled away taking his hand in her own. "How about we try to get off this island? We can find the nearest hotel and clean up a bit. I think we are in dire need of some rest and relaxation."

Stefan intertwined their fingers together as he nodded his head gently looking around their feet at all the dead bodies. It was a massacre that they probably shouldn't have survived themselves, but the sisters of fate had something else in store for the two lovers. Stefan wasn't sure if he should be terrified of what was yet to come or if he should feel relieved that they had made it this far. He shook the lingering question away and started to step over bodies, seeing Tyler and Caroline laying there under tree, noticing Klaus and Rebekah under another, finally resting his eyes on the bodies of Katherine and Jeremy near the well that lead down to what was once Silas's tomb. Everyone was dead. It seemed as though they were the only survivors. Them and...

Damon cursed under his breath as he stalked through the woods of the island, contemplating the formation of his masterplan. He wanted to make sure that when he had finally carried out his death threat to Stefan that it was torture for his baby brother. He wanted Stefan to feel an unbearable amount of pain, so much pain that he begged Damon to kill him to put him out of his misery. He kicked a few of the dead bodies at his feet, starting to whistle to himself. He was in his zone and he was proud that his mission would be complete in only a matter of moments.

A blazing fireball came shooting from out of nowhere nearly striking Damon straight in the forehead, but the cunning vamp dodged out of the projectile's way just before it could hit him. He clenched his hand into a fist, eyes gazing the trees around him. "Oh lil fire thrower come out, come out wherever you are. I promise I won't kill you..." He called out before adding under his breath. "At least right away."

"Cocky son of a bitch vampire." Bonnie muttered under her own breath as she appeared from out of nowhere right behind him. "Haven't you learned by now that no matter how many years you have on me, you will never be a match for a Bennett witch." She snarled as she channeled thoughts of agonizing pain to his pain making him feel like his skull was crushing in on it's self.

Damon clutched at his head as he fell to his knees. No matter how many times she had tried this tiresome little trick on him, it still affected him as powerfully as the first time it had caught him off guard. He struggled under the pressure of her magic, immobilized. He attempted to growl up at her but was positive he was failing. "Alright... Alright. You win. Just stop with your little antics." He begged hoping that his fake tone of surrender would fool her to obliging his pleas.

Always having a soft spot for those in need, Bonnie let him go. She had no idea what was going on, or why she woke up so angry. The last ting that she had remembered was being stabbed in the back and then Shane waking her up with some of his little herbs. Shane. She killed him. She killed him when he started to talk about raising the dead and how glorious Silas was and... He told her Jeremy died. The one person in this world that actually gave a shit about her well being was now dead? She didn't want to think about him. The more she thought about Jeremy, the more she thought about surrendering into her ancestor's demands and helping him raise the dead.

Damon wasn't one to win any sort of Nobel peace prize, but at the same time he wasn't completely heartless, at least not when it came to matter's other than his younger brother. There was something about the melancholy look on Bonnie's face that had spoke to him. The two of them had shared a growing bond that was a solid friendship. He figured the two of them both could use a friend and well... He didn't exactly want her to kill him any time soon. He had his own deaths to deliver. He tentatively reached out and wrapped his jacket over her shoulders, starting to guide her down the path in the woods that would look him back to the docks to get off of the island. After taking a few steps without taking, Damon finally broke the silence as he asked. "Are you okay?"

Was Damon Salvatore really asking Bonnie if she was okay? She arched a brow suspectingly at Damon and actually scoffed at his comfort. She knew that they had talked a few times and even saved each other's lives a few times, but did he actually think that they would ever be some version of friends? She had news for him, that was not happening. The last thing that she wanted was to line herself up with the likes of a vampire, especially after everything that happened. "Don't pretend you care Damon, I might actually start to believe that you like me."

Damon could hear the sarcasm in her voice, the disbelief in his sincerity. It wasn't like he could blame her. He knew his track record like the back of his hand. He wasn't some good guy, but he wasn't exactly some bad guy either. Okay. Forget about the fact that he was currently planning to kill his brother and the little whore they called Elena. That was more of a favor to society. But! He could care about people every now and then. He had helped their little crew of misfits on more than one occasion. He scoffed right back at her. "Don't pretend you aren't upset about Jeremy's death or I might actually start to believe you're secretly in love with me."

Bonnie pivoted on her heels so that she was directly in front of Damon, kneeing him in the groin forcibly. "Let's get one thing straight Salvatore. I don't even like you, let alone love you. You want to know how I am fucking feeling? The weight of the balance in nature is resting on my fucking shoulders and all I can think about is trying to save Jeremy. Jeremy. You know the kid right? He is the only one that has ever gave a flying two shits about me when the rest of you, used me like damn pawns. If you so much as joke about that again Damon, it will be your last joke, are we clear."

Sensing the authority in her warning, Damon looked at Bonnie and just nodded. There was something about her anger that intrigued him, something about what she had been feeling that made him want to know her more. He looked at her and sighed. It was time to put on his insecure little boy charm. It was the thing that made people forgive him even when they all knew that he was wrong. "Bonnie. I say things that I don't need to say. I really am sorry about Jeremy's death. It was a casualty that no one wanted."

"You're only saying that for your precious Elena." Bonnie snapped lighting him on fire with her mind. When he fell to the ground, rolling at her feet, Bonnie let the flames go. She looked down at he with an evil smirk on her face. "What is it you want Damon? You think we can be friends. You're fucked up brain likes the idea that there may be someone as fucked up as you out there?"

To say that her words had stung a little bit would be an understatement. He didn't know what it was about Bonnie Bennett but she was getting under his skin and she was getting under his skin fast. He didn't even dignify her question with a response. He simply climbed onto the boat, then helped her on the boat. As he started up the boat's ignition, he looked over at her and shrugged. "You know there is more to everything that meets the eye. You shouldn't be so quick to judge."

Bonnie looked at him a ping of guilt shooting through her heart. She hated hurting anyone or anything and evil if he was an evil jerk, Damon himself still had feelings. She nodded an acceptance of his words looking back at the island of horror that had slayed most their friends. She didn't have time to worry about Damon Salvatore's bruised ego. She had to find Silas and save the world... Again. Maybe after that she could explore all aspects of Damon Salvatore. Until that day came, the only thing anyone had to worry about was survival. This was now a world where even the fittest didn't survive.


End file.
